(AP) -- WASHINGTON (AP) - The Transportation Department says it has fined Houston-based El Paso Corp. and subsidiary Colorado Interstate Gas Co. $2.3 million for a 2006 Wyoming pipeline blast that killed a worker.
The department said Tuesday the fine is the largest it has levied against a pipeline company.
In November 2006, a bulldozer ruptured a buried natural gas pipeline owned by an El Paso subsidiary, sending a giant fireball into the air and scorching 600 acres. The bulldozer operator was killed. An investigation by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration found the pipeline hadn't been located and marked as required by federal safety regulations.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
(Copyright ©2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
